The UK government has updated its Infrastructure Pipeline* strategy document, which outlines future infrastructure workforce needs, which is essential for the next version of the strategy. This provides investors and industry with a clearer perspective to support long-term planning in the areas of skills and investment.
This is the first update to the Portfolio, and investors and construction companies can now access a more detailed picture of planned infrastructure projects in the UK, including, for the first time, estimates of the demand for infrastructure skills and labor generated by £718 billion (€830 billion) of public and private sector investment.
In response to feedback from the industry, the first update of the UK Infrastructure Portfolio provides companies across the construction supply chain with new information to help them invest in skills, capacity, and productivity. This information also ensures that suppliers can be ready to deliver infrastructure projects – a key component of the government’s Plan for Change – when they come to market.
Infrastructure workforce estimate
The document now includes an estimate of the infrastructure workforce needed to deliver the planned investments. This will require an estimated average annual workforce of between 621,000 and 697,000 people over the next two years, and between 629,000 and 706,000 people over the next five years.
Jobs in construction account for more than two-thirds of this demand, with infrastructure in the fields of education and health contributing the largest share.
“As part of this latest version of the infrastructure project portfolio, we are also providing the construction sector the detailed picture it needs to invest in a highly skilled workforce ready to build the hospitals, schools, railways, reservoirs, and renewable energy plants this country needs,” said Chief Secretary to the Treasury James Murray.
RIA welcomes update, vital for investors
The UK Rail Industry Association, RIA, welcomes the update to the infrastructure project portfolio, which “serves to provide clarity on future infrastructure workforce needs,” said RIA Chief Executive Darren Caplan.
He added that RIA had campaigned for years for a clear and visible portfolio of projects to be published, since the launch of the Rail Network Enhancements Pipeline in 2019.
“It is encouraging that our concerns about regular project visibility, clear communication, and execution timelines have been addressed, with recommendations for resolution, in the NISTA (National Infrastructure Transformation Authority) report published on March 9. “RIA welcomes the first update of the NISTA portfolio, which aims to provide clarity on future infrastructure workforce needs,” Darren Caplan added.
The lack of detail on individual schemes continues to make it difficult for companies to invest in people, skills, and equipment and to develop their short- and medium-term business plans at a time that is difficult for many in the rail industry.
In addition to the increased visibility of the NISTA project portfolio, and the corresponding need for a rolling stock strategy and portfolio to be published as soon as possible, rail suppliers hope that the implementation of Great British Railways in the coming year will provide an opportunity for a new approach to rail investment, bringing infrastructure closer to rolling stock and allowing more details of individual projects to be published so that rail suppliers can plan and invest with greater certainty for the future.
*The Infrastructure Pipeline is a ten-year outlook for major capital infrastructure investment in the UK, developed with input from industry. It provides information on infrastructure projects already committed, which are either under construction or in development, and are funded by the public or private sector.
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